BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia has proposed to Department of Education (DepEd) secretary Leonor Briones to officially rename the Education Training Center School (ETCS) 4 as “Bacolod City Elementary School.”
The school located at a reclaimed area in Barangay 16 and has a three-storey, 36-classroom school building worth P39 million.
The building is now being used by a mix of pupils from ETCS 1, 2, and 3 and there are plans to create a new school using this facility, the mayor said.
DepEd-Bacolod schools division superintendent Cynthia Demavivas has agreed in principle to the proposal, according to Leonardia.
The school building was one of the priority projects of Leonardia during his fourth term as mayor from 2010 to 2013. It was finished towards the end of his term in 2013.
However, it was never opened by then mayor Monico Puentevella during his term from 2013 to 2016. It was only when Leonardia came back as mayor when the facility was used in June 2017.
“It’s a pity and such a big waste that the former mayor deprived about 2,000 children from availing of this new and modern facility since he took over in 2013. It is now time to make up for that lost opportunity,” Leonardia added.
Bacolod was then the first city in the country to have an agreement with the DepEd on the “50-50 scheme” for school construction.
This means the city government built 24 classrooms, while DepEd built another 24 or a total of 48 classrooms.
The city constructed its 24-classroom share, while the DepEd constructed 12 classrooms, for a total of 36 so far, which costs P39 million. DepEd is expected to provide 12 more.
In his letter to Briones, Leonardia said that ever since, Bacolod does not have a public elementary school that bears the name of the city. Right now, all public elementary schools in Bacolod are named either after the barangay, hero, or lot donor.
“We believe that it is high time to honor Bacolod, now on her 80th year as a city, with a public elementary school that proudly bears her name,” the mayor wrote to Briones.
“We strongly believe it is most appropriate, considering various valid cultural, historical, and educational reasons. This will also give the present and future students a new sense of identity and pride as Bacolodnons,” the mayor added./PN
